WPHelpere - WebBookingPro

Calendar Based Channels only support: availability updates, booking downloads, and automatic adjustments.
- They do not support rates! Enter rates directly into the HomeAway extranet.
Even though VRBO is owned by Expedia, it is not possible to make the connect to this channel through Expedia.
WebBookingPro does not control how frequently calendar channels poll us for availability, so it can take 0.5 to 2 hours for availability to reflect on the channel. Please confirm this interval with your HomeAway Account Manager.

Step 1

If you do not have an account on HomeAway:

Create an account on HomeAway.
Once done, proceed to Step 2.

If you do have an account on HomeAway:

Proceed with Step 2

Step 2

Our booking engine can fully integrate with your WordPress website using our plugin.

Plugin is available for download here.

Steps:

install WebBookingPro plugin
Open post or page where you want to "insert" booking engine.

Insert following shortcode.

[webbookingpro hotelid="xxx" language="en|de|it|sl|sr|hr|es" currency="EUR" showlogo="1|0" showfooter="1|0" darktheme="1|0"]

only hotelid is required. If you have multiple properties you can combine ids

This article will walk you through the entire process of mapping your rooms to your Airbnb rooms (and vice versa). Once you have completed all of the steps below, the system will update Airbnb with your availability, and the channel manager will download your Airbnb bookings into your bookings page in your system.

Airbnb (iCal) is a calendar-based channel, which works differently than normal distribution channels. For example, only availability can be updated, no rates or any other stay restrictions.

Airbnb iCal connection only supports the following:
- Availability updates
- Booking Downloads
- Automatic Adjustments
Airbnb iCal connection does not support rates. You must enter rates directly into the channel's extranet.
Airbnb iCal connection supports cancellations but be careful. If you receive an Airbnb cancellation, please check if you have received Cancellation notice from WebBookingPro within 15 minutes.
Because of how the calendar URL system is designed, Airbnb iCal is only able to connect to one of the rooms of a WebBookingPro room type at a time.
Make sure to disable Airbnb instant booking: Airbnb iCal pulls availability data from WebBookingPro every hour. Because of this, we recommend turning off "Instant Booking" when using Airbnb. When Instant Booking is turned off, the property is always asked to "confirm" the booking. Since the property has the opportunity to verify that the requested room is still available, unexpected bookings can more easily be prevented. This also allows you to check the guest's reviews and make sure they are a good fit for your property
Reservations from Airbnb (iCal connection) does not contain any guest specific information, including guest’s name.
The iCal calendar sync description for reservations display only the last 4 digits of the guest phone number, along with a link to the reservation details page
The guest’s name and contact information do not appear on event titles, and the calendar sync export listing calendar information for future dates only

Connection Guide

Access your WebBookingPro account and go to the "Channel Manager" from the left menu
Click on "Add New"
Search for Airbnb in the list of channels and click on Create

4. Now click on "Map Rooms" under AirBnB line.

5. For each room copy from WebBookingPro a calendar link.

6. Now Login to your Airbnb Account

If you already have an Airbnb account, click here to access it: www.airbnb.com

Click on Host
Click on Listings

Click on the first listing's name that you would like to synchronize

On this page, click on Availability tab then Scroll down up to Sync calendars section and select Import Calendar

Paste the URL from step 7 above into your Airbnb Calendar Address (URL) field and give it a name
Click on Import Calendar

Obtain your Airbnb export calendar URL by clicking on Export Calendar

Paste the Airbnb URL into the Exported calendar URL in WebBookingPro

Click Save Changes

On the Airbnb side, click Sync Calendars for the room you have just set up listings for

Repeat the steps above for ALL of your Airbnb rooms you'd like to sync with WebBookingPro.

On WebBookingPro, click Import once completed - Your channel is now live!

Considerations

Please take the following considerations in mind when working with a calendar channel such as Airbnb:

Selling Dorm beds/rooms on Airbnb is not recommended
- Calendar-based channels do not provide us with the number of customers that booked, so bookings for shared/dorm rooms will be imported as 1 bed by default, even though there could be more! It's safest to not update/sell dorm rooms on Airbnb.
We highly recommend disabling Instant Book with Airbnb.
- By disabling Instant Book, you will have the opportunity to confirm all bookings before you accept them. Otherwise, an overbooking situation is more likely to occur because they download the calendar files from us in hourly intervals. To resolve this overbooking potential, we recommend that you turn off Instant Book by toggling the Instant Book lightning icon off.
Only one unit can be sold per room type each night
- As soon as a booking is made for a particular room type, that booking will block the room type from being available to anybody else on Airbnb. Creating multiple listings for each room is not a solution because you cannot assign multiple channel listings to a single channel manager room. At best, you can sell one unit of each room type per night on Airbnb.

Many OTA portals can use iCAL for real-time availability checking - Air B&B, Vrbo (Homeaway), FlipKey, 9Flats, ...

What is Calendar Channel?

Calendar channels, otherwise known as Vacation Rental Sites, have become very popular in recent years as the typical traveler has become more internet savvy. These channels provide travelers with many options, from renting low cost bedrooms to booking stays at palatial estates. These channels have tapped into the public's desire to stay in "real" places away from tourist areas.

If your property is not marketed correctly, calendar channels can become a real competitive threat. Thankfully, WebBookingPro has you covered as we can integrate with any calendar channel that uses the standard iCal format.

How are Calendar Channels different from normal channels?

With a typical channel (such as with booking.com od Agoda), WebBookingPro has a direct connection where we can send many values, such as:

Rates
Availability
Restrictions (such as MinLos, Closed to Arrival, etc)

Calendar-based channels work differently from those channels. With calendar channels, we provide them with a special calendar file that contains "appointments". This is similar to placing an appointment on your personal calendar, but in this case, the appointments lasts an entire night. Dates that are not booked are "empty", so they remain Available for booking.

With Calendar channels, WebBookingPro can only send Availability with support for Closed dates. All other values must be set directly in the channel's extranet, such as:

Rates
Restrictions (such as MinLos, Closed to Arrival, etc)

How Availability is Updated?

Your availability is constantly updated based on the reservations and other data that is sent to WebBookingPro. With this information, WebBookingPro updates the calendar file in real-time with your updated Availability.

Although these files are constantly updated by WebBookingPro, the calendar channel itself only "asks" for new information in the file approximately every 6 hours.

For Airbnb specifically, they "pull" data from WebBookignPro every hour. This is their native update timeframe.

Some channels use calendar check in real-time.

Two-Way versus One-Way Calendar Channels

All Calendar Channels are considered One-Way channels. If you choose to use iCAL Connection, you will have to manually adjust inventory for any incoming bookings coming from those channels.

Example: Let's say you choose to connect HomeAway (Vrbo) to WebookingPro. Here is the chain of events:

WebBookingPro takes your Available inventory, and provides that in a calendar file to Homeaway
Every 6 hours or so, Homeaway pulls information from that file and updates their calendar with your Availability
When a guest books your property, Homeaway emails you the booking and places the booking in their Extranet
Since Homeaway does not send us this booking, WebBookingPro has no idea that the room has been booked
The property must login to WebBookingPro and manually reduce the Availability for the rooms and dates that have been booked - or make "Quick Reservation" - we suggest creating Quick Reservation
Once the property has confirmed that the room is still Avaialble, the property is safe to "confirm" the Homeaway booking.

How to handle Cancellations?

Cancellations from a calendar channel cannot be transmitted to any 3rd parties (including WebBookingPro).

Since WebBookingPro is unaware of any Calendar Channel cancellations, the property must manage the inventory manually.

Example:

Guest cancels the booking
WebBookingPro is unaware of the cancellation
Property must login to WebBookingPro and add the Availability back for the cancelled booking (if desired) - or cancel "Quick Reservation" he created for that iCAL booking

OK, I am aware of all situations with iCAL - how to connect with OTA?

Every OTA has in his extranet part where you enter direct link (URL) to iCAL for each room type.

Those links are created by WebBookingPro.

if you do not see iCAL under listed Channel Managers, choose "Add New", select iCAL and click "Create".

Now click on [Map Rooms] under iCAL row and you will find all links for your property.

For each property room type or room or house/Villa you will find those links:

Copy those links and past them in your desired OTA's extranet.

To update inventory for specific room(s) and specific period, please use following XML request:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><request apiKey="your_api_key" userName="your_property_username" password="your_property_password">
<updateInventory hotelId="111" roomId="300" dateFrom="2021-04-29" dateTo="2021-04-30" nrRooms="2">
<updateInventory hotelId="111" roomId="300" dateFrom="2021-05-01" dateTo="2021-05-31" nrRooms="3" LOS="3">
<updateInventory hotelId="111" roomId="300" dateFrom="2021-06-01" dateTo="2022-05-31" Closed="1">
<updateInventory hotelId="111" roomId="301" dateFrom="2021-06-01" dateTo="2022-05-31" Closed="1">
</request>

<request> can have multiple <updateInventory> objects.

hotelId, roomdId, dateFrom, dateTo are mandatory attributes of <updateInventory> object.

nrRooms sends number of available rooms. If not set nrRooms is set to 0!

LOS sends MinLOS if applicable. If not set MinLOS value is not changed!

Closed=1 closes room for specific period, Closed=0 opens room for specific period. If not set Closed value is not changed!

CFA=1 closes room for arrival for specific period, CFA=0 resets. If not set CFA value is not changed!

CFD=1 closes room for departure for specific period, CFD=0 resets. If not set CFD value is not changed!

To get details about specific booking use the following XML request:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><request apiKey="your_api_key" userName="your_property_username" password="your_property_password">
<getBookingDetails hotelId="111" bookingid="3007995073"/>
</request>

Both hotelId and bookingid are required.

If request was successful you should retrieve XML like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response><booking><bookingid>3007995073</bookingid><bookingdate>2021-04-27T13:12:03+02:00</bookingdate><modifieddate>2021-04-29T09:44:04+02:00</modifieddate><status>2</status><payment_info/><source>boo</source><additional_info>This is a Risk-Free Reservation.
Upgraded policy: Free cancellation until 2 days before check-in.
Please note that the credit card details have been updated. We recommend validating the card as soon as possible. For charging the card, you can follow your usual process.
More information can be found at https://admin.booking.com/hotel/hoteladmin/extranet_ng/manage/booking.html?</additional_info><currency>EUR</currency><total>169.02</total><extras_fee>0.00</extras_fee><guest_tax>2.70</guest_tax><first_name>Mirko</first_name><last_name>Miocic</last_name><birth_date>0000-00-00</birth_date><address/><city/><country>HR</country><phone>+385 90 1111111</phone><email>mmmmmmmm@guest.booking.com</email><Rooms><Room id="300" count="1" checkin="2021-05-01" checkout="2021-05-02" adults="2" children="0" price="166.32" extra_beds="0" extra_beds_charge="0.00" mealplan=""/></Rooms></booking></Response>

bookingdate is always retrieved in RFC3339 DateTime format.

modifieddate is retrieved in RFC3339 only when reservation was modified.

status_changed is retrieved in RFC3339 only when reservation's status was changed (e.g. to Cancelled).

payment_info - shows payment text sent via some OTAs

total - total value of reservation

currency - currency code

guest_tax - if available taxes included in reservation like touristic tax

extras_fee - if avilable, extras included in reservation like parking, crib, ...

additional_info - all text sent via OTAs or additional notes sent via direct WBP reservation

source - code of source

first_name, last_name, birth_date, phone, email, city, country - all information about guest that made reservation.

<Rooms> object contains 1 or several <room> elements.

each <room> element has following attributes

id - id of room

count - number of reserved rooms

checkin - checkin date in format YYYY-MM-DD

checkout - checkout date in format YYYY-MM-DD

adults - number of adults

children - number of children

price - price of specific room

extra_beds - number of extra beds

extra_beds_charge

meal_plan - text about meal plan

meal_plan_price - additional price for choosed meal_plan if set

To get bookings for hotelId and specific period use the following XML request:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><request apiKey="your_api_key" userName="your_property_username" password="your_property_password">
<getBookings hotelId="111" dateFrom="2021-04-28" dateTo="2021-04-29"/>
</Request>

hotelId, dateFrom and dateTo attributes are all required.

dateFrom and dateTo should be in one of following formats:

YYYY-MM-DD
DDMMYYYY

If request was successful you should retrieve XML like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response><booking bookingid="3986846085" bookingdate="2021-04-27T19:56:02+02:00" modifieddate="2021-04-29T08:58:03+02:00" status_changed="2021-04-29T08:58:03+02:00" status="6" source="boo"/><booking bookingid="1W38549DKA" bookingdate="2021-04-28T11:19:22+02:00" status_changed="2021-04-28T11:21:04+02:00" status="2" source=""/><booking bookingid="5W04MQYN2O" bookingdate="2021-04-28T17:41:03+02:00" status_changed="2021-04-28T17:43:52+02:00" status="2" source=""/><booking bookingid="GWPJ50QCYM" bookingdate="2021-04-28T18:38:15+02:00" status_changed="2021-04-28T18:38:50+02:00" status="2" source=""/><booking bookingid="3390878623" bookingdate="2021-04-24T17:08:02+02:00" modifieddate="2021-04-28T20:04:04+02:00" status="2" source="boo"/><booking bookingid="2762087198" bookingdate="2021-04-29T08:32:02+02:00" status="2" source="boo"/><booking bookingid="3007995072" bookingdate="2021-04-27T13:12:03+02:00" modifieddate="2021-04-29T09:44:04+02:00" status="2" source="boo"/></Response>

bookingdate, modifiedddate, status_changed are DateTime in RFC3339 format with timezone correction.

modifieddate shows only if reservation is modified or status changed.

status_changed shows only if status has been modified with time of modify.

source represents OTA shortcode or if empty it means direct WBP reservation

status can be:

2 - reserved
6 - cancelled

To get rooms associated with specific hotelId use the following XML request:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><request apiKey="your_api_key" userName="your_property_username" password="your_property_password">
<getRooms hotelId="111"/>
</request>

If request was successful you should retrieve XML like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response><room id="300" description="Double Room with Sea View"/><room id="301" description="Suite"/></Response>

To get hotels connected with one user send following XML request to API base url.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><request apiKey="your_api_key" userName="your_property_username" password="your_property_password">
<getHotels/>
</request>

If request was successfull you should retrive XML like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response><hotel id="111" description="Bellevue Hotel"/><hotel id="112" description="Bellevue Residence"/></Response>

This document is the official reference for the WebBookingPro Connectivity API. The WBP Connectivity APIs enable Connectivity Partners to send and retrieve data for properties on WBP. All data sent to WBP is updated on all connected partners (e.g. OTAs, other Channel Managers, Meta Search Portals, ...) simultaneously.

If you are developing PMS your customers can control over all inventory availability and restrictions and view reservations with all needed information in your interface. This creates added value for your solution to integrate with direct reservations on property website or with connected OTAs without managing several Extranets (Administration areas).

Our Web Service API is HTTP based

The methods that retrieve or submit data require a POST request method.

We use XML for structured data exchange

We use simple XML structure for input and output, encoded in UTF-8.

Security

All requests to the API must use the HTTPS protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol [HTTP/1.1], over Transport Layer Security [TLS 1.2].

All requests must include three important elements:

API Key - unique key for each Connectivity Partner (e.g. PMS provider) - we define this parameter and it is same for all properties using same Connectivity Partner
Property username - you choose username
Property password - you choose password

Base URLs

The WBP Connectivity API (version 2.0) use following url:

https://secure.webbookingpro.com/api/xml2.php